There are many instances where it is desirable or necessary to ground or terminate cable wire shields, such as, for example, in electrical connectors, junction boxes, or electronic equipment, to name a few. For ease of presentation the invention will be particularly described in connection with application to an electrical connector.
A highly successful present day electrical connector for one or more cable wires includes plug and receptacle connector parts releasably mateable to interconnect pin and socket contacts which are, in turn, connected to the cable wires. Present day missile and aircraft systems and bases have exceptionally high requirements for shielding attenuation necessitating grounding of each individual wire shield to an electrical connector at a point only very slightly spaced from the connector contact. Experience has shown that jumpers for grounding of shielding in connectors produce relatively high impedance when subjected to nuclear event EMP current level pulses and are therefore unsatisfactory. Along with the use of any shielding technique or device, it is desirable to be able to maintain repairability of the connector cable assembly both to insure adequate logistic support as well as for economic reasons. All past known techniques for attenuating cable wire shields at a connector are relatively complex, have high electrical impedance, and are expensive to manufacture or not easily repairable.